Suzanne Pepper is a Hong Kong-based American writer with a long-standing interest in Chinese politics. She is the author of: Keeping Democracy at Bay: Hong Kong and the Challenge of Chinese Political Reform. She blogs at http://chinaelectionsblog.net/hkfocus/.

Chinese President Xi Jinping's report to the 19th Congress of the Communist Party of China revealed once and for all that Beijing intends to exercise 'comprehensive jurisdiction' over Hong Kong, and that the 1997 promise of '50 years without change' can now be consigned to the dustbin of history.

New Hong Kong CEO Carrie Lam has proved a master of the art of "responding without answering", enabling her to glide smoothly from one crisis to the next and emerge as the only person Beijing was willing to entrust with the top job.